Causes of anaemia
Cause for a normochrome-normocytic anemia can: Another reason for anemia can be reduced red blood cell production. A distinction is made between anemia and sickle cell anaemia. Sickle cell anaemia can also be the cause of anemia, but you can find out how dangerous it is and how it manifests itself in our article on sickle cell anaemia.
- Be an acute blood loss due to an acute injury (trauma) or
- A chronic bleeding caused by a tumor an ulcer hemorrhoids or if menstruation is too strong and too frequent. – a tumour
- An ulcer
- Haemorrhoids or if menstruation is too strong and too frequent. – a tumour
- An ulcer
- Haemorrhoids or if menstruation is too strong and too frequent.
- By iron deficiency (iron deficiency anaemia)
- Through vitamin deficiency (hyperchromic anaemia)
- By erythropoietin deficiency (= EPO; a protein from the kidney and liver that stimulates blood formation) or
- Due to infectious-toxic causes. In addition, anemia caused by the dissolution of red blood cells (haemolysis) or by the accelerated breakdown of erythrocytes must also be mentioned as a cause. Other forms of anaemia can be caused by genetic defects.
Diagnostics
In the anamnesis (questioning of the patient) and the clinical examination, in addition to the questioning and determination of the symptoms, it must also be clarified whether the symptoms appeared suddenly or whether they have developed slowly over a longer period of time. In the second step, a laboratory examination of the blood provides information about the composition of the blood. Laboratory parameters such as:
- The number of red blood cells
- Concentration of the red blood pigment haemoglobin
- Reticulocyte count (proportion of young red blood cells)
- Volume of erythrocytes (MCV = medium corpuscular volume)
A blood smear on a glass slide under the microscope provides information about the shape and stainability of the erythrocytes.
Further diagnostics are used to differentiate the type of anaemia. A puncture can be helpful to assess the production in the bone marrow, i.e. a sample of the bone marrow tissue is taken through a needle and examined. The estimation of the iron metabolism as well as the possibility of haemolysis (dissolution of the blood) must also be clarified. – MCH = mean corpuscular haemoglobin
- MCHC = mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration
- Parameters of iron metabolism such as serum iron (iron in blood bound to transferrin for transport), and ferritin or haemosiderin (storage proteins for iron), sTfR (soluble transferrin receptor in blood)
- Blood platelets (thrombocytes) and white blood cells (leukocytes)
